Controlling the dewetting morphologies of thin liquid films by switchable substrates

Switchable and adaptive substrates emerged as valuable tools for the control of wetting and actuation of droplet motion. Here we report a computational study of the dynamics of an unstable thin liquid film deposited on a switchable substrate, modelled with a space and time varying contact angle. With a static pattern, all the fluid is drained into droplets located around contact angle minima, whereas for a sufficiently large rate of wettability variation a state consisting of metastable rivulets is observed.

A quantitative comparison of stochastic mortality models on Italian population data

Mortality models play a basic role in the evaluation of longevity risk by demographers and actuaries. Their performance strongly depends on the different patterns shown by mortality data in different countries. A comprehensive quantitative comparison of the most used methods for forecasting mortality is presented, aimed at evaluating both the goodness of fit and the forecasting performance of these mortality models on Italian demographic data.

Mathematical tools for controlling invasive species in Protected Areas

A challenging task in the management of Protected Areas is the conservation of natural habitats and native endangered species through the optimization of control strategies for invasive plant or animal species, typically competing for the use of resources in a fragmented habitat [1]. We review two cases of control strategies on the wolf-wild boar populations in a Southern Italy Protected Area belonging to the Natura 2000 network [2,3].

Ozone trend estimation using MIPAS ESA Level 2 Version 7 data

The largest part of the Earth's atmosphere ozone is located in the stratosphere, forming the so-called ozone layer. This layer played a key role in the development of life on Earth and still protects the planet from the most Dangerous ultraviolet radiation. After the discovery of the high ozone depletion potential of some anthropogenic origin substances (e.g. chlorofluorocarbons), some limitations in the production of the major ozone-depleting substances (ODS) have been applied with the Montreal Protocol in 1987.

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics method from a large eddy simulation perspective

The Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method, often used for the modelling of the Navier- Stokes equations by a meshless Lagrangian approach, is revisited from the point of view of Large Eddy Simulation (LES). To this aim, the LES filtering procedure is recast in a Lagrangian framework by defining a filter that moves with the positions of the fluid particles at the filtered velocity.

Potential predictors of type-2 diabetes risk: machine learning, synthetic data and wearable health devices

Background: The aim of a recent research project was the investigation of the mechanisms involved in the onset of type 2 diabetes in the absence of familiarity. This has led to the development of a computational model that recapitulates the aetiology of the disease and simulates the immunological and metabolic alterations linked to type-2 diabetes subjected to clinical, physiological, and behavioural features of prototypical human individuals. Results: We analysed the time course of 46,170 virtual subjects, experiencing different lifestyle conditions.

Computing the Jordan structure of an eigenvalue

In this paper we revisit the problem of finding an orthogonal similarity transformation that puts an $n\times n$ matrix $A$ in a block upper-triangular form that reveals its Jordan structure at a particular eigenvalue $\lambda_0$. The obtained form in fact reveals the dimensions of the null spaces of $(A-\lambda_0 I)^i$ at that eigenvalue via the sizes of the leading diagonal blocks, and from this the Jordan structure at $\lambda_0$ is then easily recovered. The method starts from a Hessenberg form that already reveals several properties of the Jordan structure of $A$.